A female name. this is apparently Latin oliva ‘olive’, used as a personal name. In the Roman martyrology there is a St Oliva, a virgin of Anagni of unknown date, and also a St Oliva, venerated in the place so named and the patroness of olive-trees, which looks suspiciously as though she started life as a tutelary goddess. Oliva is found in Latin records in England as early as 1203 and was not uncommon in the 13th and 14th C, the usual English version being Oliff (cf. surnames Olive, Oliffe, Olliffe) and the diminutive Olivet, Ollett. Olive occurs in the 16th C and Lyford 1655 gives Olive as a christian name. In the 18th C the Italian Olivia came into use, and Olive survived only in rustic use, but it has now been revived. Olivia has maintained its place, probably on account of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, when most of the 18th-C It and Latin versions of christian names have died out.

Oliva Curia Regis Rolls 1203-15, Hundred Rolls 1273, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Olif Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Olyffe Major Church Registers of St. Columb Major 1579. Olyff Major Church Registers of St. Columb Major 1581.

(See Olivia.) This f. should be compared with Myrtle, Rhoda, Rose, Rosemary, Violet.

A female name derived (perhaps through the French) from the Latin olivia, the olive-tree, an emblem of peace.

Latin (feminine) - Olive-tree, fig. peace.